lip

noun

\ˈlip

Definition of lip

(Entry 1 of 4)

1 : either of two fleshy folds that surround the mouth in humans and many other vertebrates and are organs of human speech essential to certain articulations also : the red or pinkish margin of the human lip

2 slang : back talk

3a : a fleshy edge or margin (as of a wound)

b : labium

c : labellum sense 1

d : a limb of a labiate corolla

4a : the edge of a hollow vessel or cavity

b : a projecting edge: such as

(1) : the beveled upper edge of the mouth of an organ flue pipe

(2) : the sharp cutting edge on the end of a tool (such as an auger)

(3) : a short spout (as on a pitcher)

c : edge sense 2

5 : embouchure

lip

adjective

Definition of lip (Entry 2 of 4)

1 : insincere lip praise

2 : produced with the participation of the lips : labial lip consonants

lip

verb

lipped; lipping

Definition of lip (Entry 3 of 4)

transitive verb

1 : to touch with the lips especially : kiss

2 : utter

3 : to lap against : lick

4 : to hit (a putt) so that the ball hits the edge of the cup but fails to drop in —usually used with out

intransitive verb

: to hit the edge of the cup without dropping in —used with out the putt lipped out

lip-

combining form

variants: or lipo-

Definition of lip- (Entry 4 of 4)

: fat : fatty tissue : fatty lipoid lipoprotein

Other Words from lip Synonyms & Antonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about lip

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Examples of lip in a Sentence

Noun

He had a cut on his lip. She was nervously biting her lip. the lips of a wound the lip of a crater the lip of a pitcher

Adjective

part of the ritual of the awards ceremony is the nominee's lip praise for the performances of his or her competitors

Verb

the waves, reflecting the red glow of the sunset, gently lipped the prow

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

Also $17 each are the lip glosses, which, like the lipsticks, are topped with a cap covered in gold Mickey Mouse silhouettes. — Marci Robin, Allure, "Dose of Colors' Brand-New Mickey Mouse Makeup Collection Is Already Selling Out," 13 Nov. 2018 Then there's the Spooky Glitter Gloss, which is described as golden copper, and has a lot in common with the Kylie x Jordyn lip gloss shade, 23. — Amy Mackelden, Harper's BAZAAR, "Kylie Jenner Calls Herself 'Stormi’s Mom' in Revealing Instagram Snap," 6 Oct. 2018 Teigen’s collaboration with Becca, focusing on highlighters, lip glosses, and other glow-y products, launches tomorrow on Becca’s website, Sephora, and Cult Beauty. — Sarah Spellings, The Cut, "Chrissy Teigen’s Daughter, Luna, Helped Her Develop Her Makeup Collection," 28 June 2018 When Silver made the selection official, Wendell Carter Sr. pumped both fists in the air before bursting into tears and Kylia, who wore sparkly glasses and purple lip gloss, hugged her son. — Malika Andrews, chicagotribune.com, "Wendell Carter Jr. well-suited for Bulls in ‘Black Panther’-inspired attire at NBA draft," 22 June 2018 New Belgium is the king of beers that make your lips pucker, and Tartastic is an excellent addition to its already robust lineup. — Ac Shilton, Outside Online, "The Definitive Summer Guide to Shower Beer," 6 June 2018 Her lips were coated in a touch of pink sheen, while her eye makeup was a soft, glittering pink. — Lauren Rearick, Teen Vogue, "Halsey Wore White Feather Eyebrows on the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show 2018 Runway," 9 Nov. 2018 Let your lips shimmer as bright as the moon with MAKE's Cream Luminous Lip Gloss, available in six colors. — Sophie Saint Thomas, Allure, "Make Beauty Is Having a Big Sale on Its Makeup and Skin Care to Celebrate the Full Moon," 25 Oct. 2018 The references to green in the caption and photo (her green lips look fire btw) are about her character Elphaba, who is famously green. — Tamara Fuentes, Seventeen, "Ariana Grande Breaks Her Silence After Pete Davidson Engagement Split," 17 Oct. 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective

There's no word on what the complete collection will include, yet, but the video does seem to point to lip products and a set of possible eyeshadow. — Lauren Rearick, Teen Vogue, "Patrick Starrr Announced His Destination Diva MAC Cosmetics Collection," 22 Aug. 2018 The collection consists of four lipsticks ($18.50), two lip pencils ($18), four lip glosses ($17.50), an eye palette ($32) and a bronzing powder ($28), all of which are inspired by Aaliyah’s music videos and most popular looks. — Alexa Tietjen | Wwd, latimes.com, "How Instagram willed a MAC X Aaliyah collaboration to fruition," 19 June 2018 To stop lip color from migrating into lines, pretreat the area around the mouth with concealer: Using your fingertip, lightly dot on one that contains reflective particles. — Abbie Kozolchyk, Good Housekeeping, "Best Tips and Tools to Whiten Your Smile," 7 Jan. 2011 Not using a lip brush turned out to be my problem with the Fenty Beauty lip paint. — Marisa Meltzer, The Seattle Times, "How to do a makeup look in 5 minutes, tops," 7 Sep. 2018 While most of us would be left fumbling in the moments when Jenner bakes her face at warp speed or applies lip liner with her eyes closed, Manny fully manages to pull it off — and even swaps some of her hero products for more affordable versions. — Zoe Weiner, Allure, "Watch Manny MUA Flawlessly Recreate Kylie Jenner’s Entire Makeup Routine," 9 July 2018 Gonna miss the pink 💞🍬👛🌸🍭🎀 A post shared by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on Mar 9, 2018 at 7:44am PST Wearing @kkwbeauty lipstick shade 3 in the center and 4 all over with lip liner 2. — Chloe Metzger, Marie Claire, "Kim Kardashian Just Dyed Her Hair Dark, Inky Blue," 13 June 2018 Jenner, who officially surpassed older sister Kim Kardashian West as the most profitable member of the family, turned her idea to launch lip kits into a $900 million business in the span of two years. — Jodi Guglielmi, PEOPLE.com, "Kylie Jenner: Someone Started a GoFundMe to Raise the $100M She Needs to Become a Billionaire," 12 July 2018 Prior to her sister Khloe Kardashian telling the world about her lip injections, Jenner often chalked up her lip fullness to an overlining trick. — Marci Robin, Allure, "Kylie Jenner Told a Fan She "Got Rid of All My Filler" on Instagram," 9 July 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

Both sides in the special counsel’s case against former national security adviser Michael Flynn are staying tight-lipped after a judge demanded information about why Flynn’s sentencing is once again being delayed. — Alex Pappas, Fox News, "Mueller, Flynn give vague response when judge demands answers on sentencing delays," 2 July 2018 In the past month, law enforcement agencies around the country have been posting videos of officers lip syncing and challenging other departments to do the same. — Asia Fields, The Seattle Times, "Lip-syncing cops in Virginia challenge Seattle police in viral video," 10 July 2018 His pitch was pretty good given the circumstances, but his putt from about 12-feet lipped out, leaving for a bogey. — Adam Woodard, USA TODAY, "Tiger Tracker: Follow Tiger Woods' Saturday round at his tournament, the Quicken Loans National," 30 June 2018 Other pitchers might drop an F-bomb but cover their faces with their gloves so fans (and umps) can’t lip-read their profanity. — Lee Judge Special To The Star, kansascity, "What happens when a Royals player loses it? Why, he 'snaps,' of course | The Kansas City Star," 15 May 2018 Police and fire departments around the country have been challenging one another to lip sync battles this week. — Johnny Diaz, Sun-Sentinel.com, "Boca Raton cop wows social media by lip-syncing to 'Frozen' song," 10 July 2018 Mueller and his team have been remarkably close-lipped throughout their investigation — keeping President Trump’s team, the media, and Washington generally in the dark both about their overall strategy and about what their next moves will be. — Andrew Prokop, Vox, "Does Mueller think Paul Manafort is the key to collusion?," 15 June 2018 Social media stardom comes with fans and bullies Laverne was a freshman when her Musical.ly videos — mostly her offering makeup tutorials and deftly lip-syncing to pop songs — began gaining serious attention well beyond her high school classmates. — Justin Jacobs, Indianapolis Star, "Greenwood teen has 3M Musical.ly fans. But after being bullied, she goes to school alone," 6 July 2018 About 50 percent of the score will be new selections, but the creators are being tight-lipped about what fans can expect to hear. — Christopher Wallenberg, BostonGlobe.com, "A new ‘Moulin Rouge!’ for a new Colonial," 5 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'lip.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for lip

Noun

Middle English, from Old English lippa; akin to Old High German leffur lip and probably to Latin labium, labrum lip

Combining form

New Latin, from Greek, from lipos — more at leave

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Dictionary Entries near lip

Statistics for lip

Last Updated

27 Nov 2018

Look-up Popularity

Time Traveler for lip

The first known use of lip was before the 12th century

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More Definitions for lip

lip

noun

English Language Learners Definition of lip

: either one of the two soft parts that surround the mouth

: the edge of a cut or hole

: the edge of a container especially where it is slightly spread out

See the full definition for lip in the English Language Learners Dictionary

lip

noun

\ˈlip

Kids Definition of lip

1 : either of the two folds of flesh that surround the mouth

2 : the edge of a hollow container (as a jar) especially where it is slightly spread out

3 : an edge (as of a wound) like or of flesh

4 : an edge that sticks out the lip of a roof

lip

noun

\ˈlip

Medical Definition of lip

1 : either of the two fleshy folds which surround the opening of the mouth in humans and many other vertebrates and in humans are organs of speech essential to certain articulations also : the pinkish or reddish margin of a human lip composed of nonglandular mucous membrane and usually exposed when the mouth takes on its natural set

2 : an edge of a wound

3 : either of a pair of fleshy folds surrounding an orifice

4 : an anatomical part or structure (as a labium) resembling a lip